From Peterson Media
Though the World of Outlaw West Coast Swing came to a disappointing end over the weekend, reigning King of the West, Jonthan Allard, is confident his team has what it takes to defend their title.
“We have worked hard the last six weeks to get out stuff dialed in, and though we haven’t had the runs with the World of Outlaws we had hoped for, I think we are in a great spot for the upcoming KWS season,” JA said.
Kicking off their final weekend of Outlaw action during their trip out here, JA and his team were in action at the Kings Speedway in Hanford, CA on Friday night.
Timing in seventh fastest, JA went on to score a second place finish in his heat and put his Williams Motorsports machine the ever-important dash.
Starting seventh, JA had a bit of trouble as he slipped back to the 10th spot, as his car was a little to free for the racing surface.
“We were a bit loose in the Dash, and couldn’t get any grip, and slipped back to the 10th spot.”
The feature event got off to a rough start for the Chico, CA driver. Some incidental contact with Sammy Swindell got Allard out of shape, and then contact from Steve Kinser put Allard into the front stretch wall.
When he regrouped he looked to avoid Jason Sides, and slid off the track, and lost a ton of spots.
“I kind of felt like a pin ball when the race started,” he said.
Dropping back to the 20th spot, Allard, looked to do what he could to get back to the front, but was a little free still in the A.
“Everything so far has been pretty sticky, and this was our first test on the slick stuff,” he said.
Allard would score a 15th place finish at the stripe.
In action on Saturday night at the Perris Auto Speedway in Perris, CA, Allard and his team got off to a rocky start, as 14th best qualifying effort put them outside of the inversion.
A sixth place finish in his heat, put JA in the seventh row for the 30-lap main event.
When the event went green, Allard grabbed the 12th spot, as passing was ultra tough on the locked down track.
While running 12th late in the race, Allard seemed to lose power as he fell back to 14th with just a handful of laps remaining.
Allard would limp home with a 14th place finish.
“I’m not quite sure what happened at Perris,” he said. “The track was fast, and we were pretty good early in the feature, but the engine felt like it was starting to lay down, so that is something we will have to check out.”
2013 BY THE NUMBERS: Races-16, Wins-3, Top 5’s-7, Top 10’s-7.
ON TAP: Jonathan and his Williams Motorsports team will now begin their title defense with the King of the West Series as their opening event is Saturday night at the Antioch Speedway in Antioch, CA.
STAY CONNECTED: For more information on Jonathan, including upcoming events, pictures, and news please check out www.allardmotorsports.com, or follow JA on twitter @Allard0.